Have you been water skiing for years, and wondering if there were any other challenges for you to face? If you think you're ready to move on to the next level of skiing, drop one ski and get ready to slalom!

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Steps

1

Be comfortable skiing with two skis. If you can't get up on two water skis, skiing with one will be practically impossible. After you are completely comfortable and have a lot of experience with skiing on two skis, it's time to move on to one.

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2

Find your dominant foot. This will be the foot that goes into the back of the slalom ski, as this is the foot that does all of the steering and keeps all the balance. Usually, your dominant foot corresponds with your dominant hand. However, this is not always the case.

To figure out your dominant foot, have someone push you from behind lightly, but hard enough to make you stick out a foot to regain balance. The foot that you stick out in front of you is your dominant foot, and should be in the back of the ski. Make sure that you aren't expecting the push!

3

Start out with the bar. Starting on the bar is a good idea because it lets you figure out how to balance on one ski. Get up on two skis, and drop the one with your dominant foot in it.

You can drop a ski while on the water by pressing down with your toe. Your foot should slide right out. Making the boot a little larger than usual helps get it out easily, and so does dousing the inside with soap before you start. Whenever you want to drop a ski, try to choose a spot in particular so you and the driver knows where it has been dropped. Firstly, you want to shift your weight on one ski (the side you want to slalom on which is your dominant side) After that, try slipping out of your boot. The boot should be usually looser so you don't have to struggle it out. whenever you have your foot out of the boot but still keeping that foot slightly in so when you are comfortable you can completely let go of the ski and take your time to pull back your foot behind and onto the other ski. Do not rush, it's your first time, you want to set up a momentum so that you can do it over and over again.

Once you get your dominant foot out, carefully slide it into the back boot of your non dominant foot. At first, this procedure will be difficult and awkward, but you'll soon be able to do it like it's nothing.

4

Drop your ski on the rope. Now it's time for the next level: the rope.

Drop your ski on the rope. You do this the same way as how you would on the bar. It will be tricky to keep your balance, however, if you're comfortable doing this on the bar, this should be a fairly easy task. Once you've done that, it's time to move on.

5

Get up on the rope. This will be the most difficult part of learning to slalom ski.

If your right foot is in the front of the ski, the rope should be on your left. If your left foot's forward, put it on your right. This will help you keep your balance before getting up.

Keep your ski centered. The boat should be going around five miles per hour (eight kilometres per hour), which will help you keep your balance. Once you are certain you've found your inner balance, call out to the driver so they know to start. Have them speed the boat around thirty miles per hour (forty eight kilometres) until you get up and are steady, then gradually slow down to around twenty miles per hour (thirty two kilometres).

6

Practice until you're comfortable. Practice getting up on one ski until you can do so easily. Continue to find your balance point, and practice getting up.

7

Try going outside of the wake. The next level to slalom skiing is going outside of the wake. You can turn to go out of the wake by using your back foot to lean to the direction you'd like to go in. You'll have to push a lot at first, but with some practice, you'll be able to turn easily with less than a slight movement of the foot. Practice over and over, and cut as hard as you can while going outside of the wake. See how much spray you can kick up with your back foot.

8

Cut back inside. This is the last level, which expert slalomers are capable of. Once you're outside of the wake, cut as hard as you can back into the wake. At first, you'll go slow out of fear of hitting the wake. Keep practicing, and you'll be able to cut at extreme levels to get back into the wake. You may even get some air while cutting back in!

9

Practice, practice, practice! Don't go too long without slaloming if you can help it. Continually practice cutting, balance, and other important skills. After a lot of practice, you might even be able to jump, do one-eighties, and other cool tricks. Remember, there's always something else to learn. Go out there and find it!

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Tips

Designate someone in the boat to watch where the dropped ski goes in the water. You don't want to lose it!

The spray that's kicked up from your back foot is a good indicator of how hard you're cutting. The best skiers are able to get around ten feet (three metres) of spray, or more!

Finding a good slalom skier can help you learn the basics of slaloming.

Make sure that your ski is your size. If you are finding it especially hard to get up, and that you are always falling to one side, you may not be using the correct size ski. Find an experienced skier and see what they have to say. You can try bringing your ski to a nearby ski store for information and advice.

Don't go slalom skiing on busy days or rough water. It won't be as enjoyable, and rough waters are a bad learning environment.

Never drop a ski in a high traffic area. Not only could it get run over and ruin the ski, it can also ruin the boat. Neither are very cheap to fix.[1]

If the bottom of the ski is black,paint some of it red or orange so if it tips over when dropping it you can find it easier when you go back to retrieve it.

Before buying a slalom ski, talk to an experienced skier who can help you find a good one for you. Your first time skiing, you should buy two skis, and one has the back boot for your other foot. This will be cheaper. Once you get more experienced, you can buy a ski that was made just for slalom skiing. There are slalom skis with boots that go up midway to your kneecap for extra support. Find out which ski style works for you.

The first time you slalom ski, the boat shouldn't go very fast. The boat should be going at about 21-25 miles per hour (33.6 to 40 kilometres per hour) for a beginner. As you get more experienced, the boat should go faster and faster.

Always stretch before skiing!

Hold on to the rope tightly. There are many ways of holding it, but the most common style is holding it like a baseball bat, but parallel to the ground.[2]

Beginners should use a rope around seventy five feet in length (about twenty three metres).

Warnings

Always make sure that your ski is secured. If your ski boot is too loose, it'll be very difficult to get up without falling to the side.

Always let go of the rope at the end of a run when you're not too close to a dock. It may be closer to swim to, but if you can't slow down in time, you'll crash.

Don't ski after sunset.

Stretch before slaloming to prevent pulling a muscle.

Make sure there are at least two people in the boat; one as a driver, and one as a spotter, and both are doing their job correctly.